Corruption probe of PLA's Xu Caihou dropped because of terminal cancer

A corruption probe into a retired senior PLA general was dropped because he has terminal cancer - a fate "equal to the death penalty" - two sources have told the South China Morning Post.

President Xi Jinping decided not to punish Xu Caihou, 70, who was vice-chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission, one of the sources, a senior colonel, said.

Xu was being investigated as part of the Communist Party's inquiry into one of his subordinates, Gu Junshan, a former deputy logistics chief for the PLA, the source said.

Gu has been under shuanggui - the secretive form of administrative detention imposed on party members suspected of corruption - since early 2012.

"Xu was interrogated after the army's anti-graft investigators started their probe of Gu, but he escaped military discipline after he was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer," the senior colonel said.

Xu was made vice-chairman of the commission, the body that commands the armed forces and is currently headed by Xi, in 2004. He remained in the position until retiring last year.